Category: Just for Fun

MUSINGS

I was sick last week, so no blog but I did muse. Then I took a friend and  went to the beach and  this is the result of that musing…..                                                             

“DON’T PLAY LEAPFROG WITH A UNICORN”

I came across this saying and thought that the suggestion might be helpful to attorneys.  My interpretation, which is always right, is that you shouldn’t engage with someone or thing that might really do you great harm.  This brings to mind the defense attorney who just won’t turn away any client even those that are obviously dangerous.  Or the family law case in which the client has had 4 prior attorneys and has sued them all.

As attorneys, we need to protect ourselves from those in our society who can cause us more than the normal problems associated with a case.  We need the ego strength and our personal greed alert to assist us with getting out of these situations as soon as possible.  Or we might get that horn stuck in a very uncomfortable place…..

“DON’T GO TO THE HARDWARE STORE FOR A HAMBURGER”

One of my favorites.  For attorneys this pertains mostly in the marketing/network arena.  In other words, don’t continue to market to people who are never going to give you leads, let alone support.  Don’t spend time or energy on folks who will never take the time to be interested in what you are doing.  They may be able to give you a screwdriver but never a hamburger.

Now if you need a screwdriver, you might be in luck but don’t waste the time finding out what they have to offer, if it’s not what you want. To know what you want, you need a marketing plan, have identified your target market and have a clear elevator speech.

“BE UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WISH THEM TO BE UNTO YOU”

This is my interpretation of “do unto others…”  If you want someone to be interested in your career and success then you need to be interested in their career and success.  This is the solution to people who say they can’t small talk.  Small talk equals big rewards because it can turn into big talk. You will never know what the rewards are unless you spend a little time testing the waters.

People have then whined (which you know I hate) that they don’t know what to say to open a conversation for small talking.  How about something like “ Has anything new happen in your life last week” or “ What brought you here?” or “ What is your area of practice?” or “Have you been to this event before?”.  Smile, that helps and offer them a piece of wrapped chocolate.  Big Talk equals Big Rewards.

IT MIGHT BE NICE IF YOU MUSED A LITTLE YOURSELF THIS WEEK.  CAN YOU COME UP WITH A SAYING THAT GIVES GOOD ADVICE?  SEND IT TO ME AND I WILL PUBLISH IT!!

ALSO, MY NEW LINKEDIN FORUM IS NEEDING NEW MEMBERS. JUST GO TO LINKEDIN “GROUPS” AND SIGN UP FOR ATTORNEYS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FORUM and please post a little something.

WHAT’S ON YOUR BUCKET LIST?

Movies are made about it, people tell each other about it and even school children have them.  Bucket Lists:  all the things you want to do before you die.  So what does yours look like?

Is it filled with big plans like “learn a language”, “learn how to play piano” or “write a novel”?  or small things like “spring clean”, “take a yoga class” or “join my PTA”?

Probably your list should be filled with big things and little things.  Some to do tomorrow and some to do next year…..however, since none of us know how much longer we have to get these things accomplished, most should be something that we can get on right away.

The fun thing about Bucket Lists is that they are yours only.  They don’t involve anyone else normally because you only have control over yourself, not others.  So you can’t have “get my son to do his homework”.  That’s not a proper list member.

It is possible to have others included if you don’t have to count on them doing something.  A good one many people have is something like “Visit my Grandmother in Germany”.  All your Grandmother has to do is show up and so that is a valid Bucket List member.

Could you ever guess a Bucket List has so many rules?  Actually, you can even make up more rules for your very own bucket list.  Could be that everything has to get done by a certain date or you put the items in priority, so you do first things first.  Or you can just doodle out any old thing that comes to mind.

The importance of a Bucket List is that you now own a list of your dreams in concrete form.  When you get bored or tired or depressed, you can take out your Bucket List and enjoy thinking how you are going to get an item checked off.  It’s also best to do this while you are still capable of actually getting it done.  That’s why I’m traveling to exotic foreign countries now while I can still propel myself under my own power.  Not asking to be pushed across the Himalayas in a wheel chair.  So, see you have to be reasonable with your list.

So where did this all come from?  Most obvious is from Kicking the Bucket, as in dying.  The term is first seen in a 1993 Labor Relations Board report stating that since they didn’t get their whole agenda taken care of the remaining items would be put in a Bucket List.  Of course the 2007 movie with Jack Nicholson made the term even more popular.  It has now shown up numerous times in TV and movies since then.

So get on with it…..Start your very own Bucket List of all the things to want to do or have before you “kick the bucket”.  Don’t worry, no one is even going to see it unless you want them to.  It’s fun besides to dream…….

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WHERE IS YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR?

Don’t ever hide your sense of humor!

Some lawyers think that everything is serious and some lawyers think nothing is serious.  Of course, what is obvious is that neither of these lawyers are correct.

Using humor can be a great asset to an attorney.  How many of you looked at my Fun on Friday post that was really funny ?  How many of you laughed?  More importantly how many of you sent it along to other friends so that they could enjoy themselves for a minute?

A sense of play or fun is also a good tool for an attorney to use when appropriate.  To approach a project by making it fun is an exceptional gift.  You ask, How could a Summary Judgement be fun?  Sometimes making a game out of a tough project can make it fun. Race against the clock to see how fast you can get it done or make some of it rhyme or picture parts of it in a fun way.  See it as a game of dungeon and dragons or David and Goliath.  I have used all of these to make life more fun when faced with a tiresome project.  You can too.

In my book, BE A BETTER LAWYER: A Short Guide to a Long Career, I suggest that you gather together a humor file to keep in your desk.  When you are feeling a little down, just open it up and look at all the funny cartoons or sayings or other humorous items you have amassed.

Work humor into your mediation when it becomes tense.  Use humor with a jury and/or judge when it is appropriate.  But don’t be a dunce and tell jokes just for the sake of the joke.  Also using humor correctly when giving a talk. Do NOT feel obliged to always tell a joke up front. That is really old and not the way to entice your audience to listen to what you say.

So, your job this week is to find 3 events, stories, or situations that you see as humorous.  Then take one of those events and write it up and put it in your OFFICE HUMOR FILE, so you can look at it later. Last you need to share it with someone.  Maybe you can cleverly work it into a conversation or just send it to someone with a note that you thought they might enjoy it.  Brighten someone’s day and yours will be brighter too!

DO YOU LIKE OR HATE HALLOWEEN?

When you take a survey of how people feel about Halloween, you usually get answers like: “oh, I love  to get dressed up and go to a party” or “I hate it.  All that candy and the kids get crazy” or ” I shut my door and turn off the lights and hide”.

Here in Santa Cruz, CA the city has a huge parade and the kids get to go trick or treating to all the stores along the main street early in the evening.It is fun to see all the little ones dressed up but things can get a little rough later on when the big folks start partying in the street.  The City even puts up a temporary fence around each tree and sculpture on the street.

Each of us has our own remembrances of Halloween. Mine is getting black all over my face from slobbering on the black mask.  Also remembering my Dad hiding behind a tree to keep an eye on us as we went door to door.  What is your memory?

Later I used to sneak candy out from under the bed where my children thought they were hiding it. In that way I could slowly and very cleverly, I thought, reduce the amount of candy each night.  Later on I found out that they knew I was doing this but as long as I didn’t take out any of the real good stuff, I was OK.

One of the things I have notices about Halloween for both adults and children is that it can be a day or an evening of being someone else.  You see a lot of spider men and super heroes because kids love the idea of being empowered because they mostly feel little and powerless.   I once went to a Halloween party where we adults were to dress as our alter egos or our dark sides.  One guy showed up in a baseball uniform which I thought was weird.  There were lots of Draculas and Witches. I’m too shy to tell you what my costume was.

So share your favorite story about Halloween.  I’m guessing that there is nothing greatly significant that we can gleam from these stories but they can be great fun…..and we lawyers need fun in our lives.